Sunday, May 11, 2008

Torture Memo Turned Over to Judge: Let's Hope It Hits the Fan

Just in from NYT: "Judge Orders CIA to Turn Over "Torture" Memo: ACLU"

The American Civil Liberties Union said the memo was written by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel and sent to the CIA in August 2002. The ACLU described the memo as "one of the most important torture documents still being withheld by the Bush administration."In a copy of the order posted on the ACLU's Web site, Judge Alvin Hellerstein told the government to produce the memo so he can determine whether it should be made public as part of a lawsuit the ACLU and other organizations filed in June 2004 requesting records concerning the treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody abroad.Hellerstein has scheduled a review of the document for Monday."This memo authorized the CIA to use specific torture techniques --including waterboarding," Jameel Jaffer, ACLU's national security projectdirector, said in a statement.

"CIA agents waterboarded prisoners because this memo told them that theycould," he said. "The memo is being withheld not for legitimate securityreasons, but in order to protect government officials from accountability fortheir decisions."

Let's hope it causes a public outcry. After getting away with a war based on lies and defiance of the Geneva Conventions, it's a shame and a mockery of justice that Cheney-Bush were never impeached. Are these not "high crimes and misdemeanors"?